Summary
Key Areas Of Expertise
Work History
Education
Certification
Languages
Professional Awards
03
ELENA MENDEZ TARAZONA

ELENA MENDEZ TARAZONA

Dubai

Summary

I am a marketing, brand, and comms leader with over 20 years of global experience driving consumer engagement and building brand equity. Expert in end-to-end lifestyle brand management, crafting consumer-centric marketing strategies and creating experiences that cultivate brand advocates. Skilled in developing, inspiring, and aligning cross-cultural teams within matrix organizations towards common goals. Passionate about driving innovation across the full customer journey, all while creating positive change in the communities we serve and the environment we share.

Key Areas Of Expertise

  • Leadership / Mentorship
  • Brand Management
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Performance Marketing
  • Data and Analytics
  • Loyalty Marketing
  • Customer Experience Design
  • PR / Communications Strategy
  • Strategic Partnerships / Events
  • Influencer Marketing
  • Content Creation
  • Social Media

Work History

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT MARKETING

GEMS EDUCATION
03.2023 - 07.2024
  • Company Overview: GEMS Education is the largest Kindergarten to Grade 12 private education providers in the world with over 50 premium and mid-market schools in the UAE, Qatar and Egypt
  • Responsible for developing, implementing and leading a new GEMS Education marketing strategy and roadmap in support of the overall business plan and growth targets across the MENASA region
  • Led a high-performing team of 21 professionals across brand, digital (SEO, SEM and CRM), social media, strategic partnerships, graphic design and content creation, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration
  • Spearheaded digital transformation initiatives, including enhanced reporting on lead progression through Salesforce, launching targeted WhatsApp campaigns, introducing ASANA for streamlined project management, and onboarding the company's first Digital Asset Management platform
  • Optimized corporate marketing strategy by integrating long-term brand-building with short-term performance marketing, resulting in record-breaking enrollment figures
  • Launched a comprehensive brand study to guide the marketing strategy with data-led consumer insights
  • Launched the brand's first awareness and re-targeting digital campaigns across key feeder markets, to attract and engage new families moving to Dubai
  • Designed and implemented a revised social media strategy, including the brand's first Tik Tok account, resulting in a 16% YOY follower growth and 21% YOY engagement growth across owned channels
  • Developed and launched a new brand visual ID and brand playbook across the organization to align properties and drive consistency in our marketing efforts
  • Identified, onboarded and managed multiple external vendors/agencies, optimizing the quality of the content and overall marketing performance
  • Launched a strategic partnerships vertical focused on collaborating with key industry brands and thought leaders to strengthen engagement and build credibility
  • Design, review and implement frameworks and processes to improve working efficiencies and governance across the department
  • GEMS Education is the largest Kindergarten to Grade 12 private education providers in the world with over 50 premium and mid-market schools in the UAE, Qatar and Egypt

VICE PRESIDENT F&B MARKETING & CORPORATE COMMS MEIIA

SHANGRI-LA HOTELS AND RESORTS
04.2020 - 03.2023
  • Company Overview: Award-winning leading luxury hotel and resort company with over 100 properties across Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East and the Americas, including 17 within MEIIA region (Middle East, India, Indian Ocean and Americas)
  • Led the F&B/retail marketing, CSR, partnerships, social media and corporate communications strategy for the MEIIA region
  • Provided remote leadership to teams in the US and UK, with further dotted line reporting from hotel based marcoms representatives in Europe, Canada, Middle East, India and Indian Ocean
  • Led influencer marketing collaborations, implementing the region's first influencer strategy and platform to strengthen brand awareness
  • Led the roll out of regional brand and CSR partnerships in line with luxury consumer trends
  • Included Veuve Clicquot pop-ups, Sky Diamonds partnerships
  • (industry-first proposals/celebrations with sustainable diamonds), Make-A-Wish Foundation and sustainable heirloom toy maker PLAAY!
  • Directed crisis communications for the region at corporate and provided guidance at hotel level
  • Relaunched updated crisis media guidelines document/process across the region
  • Conceptualized and led the F&B Advisory Board and co-led the Innovation Committee across the region, working with key operational teams to create differentiated, scalable, and on-brand experiences
  • Led the development and execution of region-wide campaigns focused on digital channels, including comprehensive toolkits to ensure consistency, high-quality creative, and optimized efforts-supporting over $61M in F&B revenue and directly generating $4M
  • Supported property closures and post-Covid re-openings with revised strategies, a domestic audience focus, and new revenue streams including launching voucher/retail programming and innovative hotel experiences
  • Part of the pre-opening team for the Shangri-La Jeddah, marking the brand's entry into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
  • Award-winning leading luxury hotel and resort company with over 100 properties across Asia, Australia, Europe, Middle East and the Americas, including 17 within MEIIA region (Middle East, India, Indian Ocean and Americas)

GLOBAL SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT BRANDS

SHANGRI-LA HOTELS AND RESORTS
03.2018 - 04.2020
  • Directed global brand management, with a strong emphasis on delivering the leadership vision for a refreshed luxury brand positioning and customer experience in the lead up to its 50th anniversary
  • Led global brand strategy, overseeing a major repositioning campaign in collaboration with leading agencies and partners
  • Developed and launched a new brand visual ID and brand playbook across the organization
  • Launched a global User Generated Content campaign through social channels to an internal and external audience, securing 60K+ new images and videos to our content library in 6-months #FindYourShangrila
  • Launched the 'Find Your Shangri-La' campaign, featuring a brand film directed by renowned director Dave Meyers
  • Included a robust plan through owned, earned and paid channels, as well as internal colleague and external VIP events (launch was delayed due to COVID)
  • Managed multi-million-dollar marketing budgets, ensuring cost-efficiency and maximizing ROI
  • Created ultra-luxury hotel experiences in collaboration with partners/hotels across select cities, targeting high-net-worth clients - included a collaboration with Ugo Gattoni, illustrator of renowned Hermès scarves, for creative support
  • Led a variety of projects from a brand standards and F&B perspective to enhance our on-property guest experiences, and in collaboration with relevant operations teams

VICE PRESIDENT BRANDS EAME

STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS
05.2014 - 05.2017
  • Company Overview: One of the largest companies owning, operating, franchising and managing multiple global hotel and resort brands the across the long stay, budget, premium, and luxury segments, it was acquired by Marriott International in 2016
  • Led development and execution of effective divisional brand / marketing strategy across Westin, Sheraton, Aloft, Four Points by Sheraton, and Element hotel brands, across 150+ properties and 50+ countries
  • Led the go-to-market/launch strategy for the Element brand into the division, Westin into Africa and Aloft into Germany amongst others
  • Led influencer and brand partnerships to elevate brand visibility through high-impact content
  • Notable collaborations include a partnership with F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, and lifestyle partnerships such Aloft's MTV partnership
  • Ensured compelling and unique positioning strategies for each brand, communicated consistently through all touchpoints across the consumer journey including :
  • Assisted development teams in evaluating and securing brand alignment for new franchise and management contracts
  • Assisted design teams with bringing to life the brand narrative
  • Worked alongside operations teams to define, launch, and enforce brand standards / programming for an elevated guest experience
  • Led internal brand culture efforts through developing and delivering service culture training in partnership with HR (with a focus on new openings)
  • Part of the team behind Sheraton's global repositioning efforts, including the launch of an award-winning marketing video in the region to support the brand's new campaign : 'Actions Speak Louder.'
  • One of the largest companies owning, operating, franchising and managing multiple global hotel and resort brands the across the long stay, budget, premium, and luxury segments, it was acquired by Marriott International in 2016

DIRECTOR/SR DIRECTOR LOYALTY MARKETING & OPERATIONS EAME

STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS
01.2009 - 05.2014
  • Maximised customer acquisition and member retention in leading on Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) and StarChoice B2B loyalty programmes across luxury, upscale, and select brands
  • Secured SPG membership for one in every two guests by inspiring, training and incentivising hotel operations teams in support of enrolments
  • Conceptualized and launched yearly SPG week
  • Generated a new revenue stream for the company by encouraging and rewarding the use of restaurants and bars by local members securing +200%+ F&B revenue growth from non-stay guests
  • Held full global budgetary accountability and led the strategy for the SPG F&B programme
  • Led innovative marketing and partnership campaigns across +600 bars & restaurants
  • Optimized efforts through data analytics, including consumer research, hotel performance results, guest spending patterns, guest satisfaction scores and redemptions
  • Enticed points-use through creating relevant local, regional and global opportunities through hotels, celebrities and partners
  • Included brand partnerships with F1, Live Nation and Cirque du Soleil to name a few

MANAGER/DIRECTOR

WESTIN HOTELS & RESORTS
01.2005 - 01.2009
  • Led on all aspects of brand marketing, guest experience and brand standards with a focus on positioning the brand as a leader in the wellness space
  • Includes activating partnerships such as Headspace/Technogym/Superfoods/JING Tea/Sudoku and a variety of influencers renowned in the wellness and wellbeing space
  • Led brand marketing, guest experience and brand standards including Westin's entry into the Middle East

Education

Diploma - Hotel Management

Les Roches Hotel Management School

Certification

  • 2024, Mastering Digital Marketing in an AI World, London Business School
  • 2022, Digital Marketing, National University of Singapore
  • 2021, Influencer Marketing, Elle Education
  • 2020, Mini MBA: Marketing, Marketing Week
  • 2019, Digital Marketing Strategies, Kellogg School of Management
  • 2018, Certificate: High Performance Leadership, Cornell University
  • 2016, Certificate: Digital Marketing, Squared Online Developed by Google

Languages

English
Spanish
French
Portuguese

Professional Awards

  • 2023, Best Use of Content Marketing, MENA Search Awards
  • 2023, Best PPC Campaign, MENA Search Awards
  • 2022, World's Leading New Hotel, Shangri-la Jeddah, World Travel Awards
  • 2020, Best Business Hotel Brand in Asia-Pacific, Business Traveller Awards UK
  • 2019, Best Luxury Hotel Brand, TTG Travel Awards, Bangkok
  • 2017, Outstanding Brand Activation, Middle East Event Show (MEES)
  • 2017, Best Travel, Leisure, Sports Campaign, Digital Industries Drum Awards

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